Asiaweek, May 3, 1996, p. 37
Myanmar's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) has a hard time relating to its ost vocal critic, Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Since releasing her from nearly six years of house arrest last July, the junta refused to engage in a dialogue with her. Earlier this year, it ousted her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), from the groupd drafting a new constitution. The NLD had won a landslide victory in 1990 national elections, but the military refused to recognized the results. Nevertheless, Suu Kyi remains a powerful political force. She continues to address crowds outside her compound on weekends, and videotapes of these addresses circulate clandestinely throughout the country. Bangkok-based Contributing Reporter Dominic Faulder talked with her by telephone on April 17 about her stand-off with SLORC. Excerpts:
Q. Are you getting out to talk with people?
A. Well, I do go out of the house, if that's what you mean, but you must have heard about the contretemps yesterday. The ordinary Burmese are very supportive, which is exactly why the SLORC does not want us to be in contact with the people.
Q. Can you describe what happened yesterday during Thingyan (Buddhist New Year)?
A. The NLD was planning to have a fish-releasing ceremony. This is what we usually do on New Year's Day; we release fish as a way of gathering merit for the New Year. The NLD informed the authorities concerned just before Thingyan that we would be having a ceremony, and that we would be walking frm my house to the place where the fishes were to be released. They iformed us oly on the 15th that this was ot going to be permitted. So we thought in that case, we would go ahead with our arrangements to pay respects to our eleders. This would be held in (my) house. But yesterday they started putting barriers across the road in front of the house and stopping people from coming in.
Q. Why do you think the government did that?
A. I see it as a sign that SLORC is very much aware that our public support is very strong, and I think they are afraid that this support will be demonstrated clearly for all the world to see. So they wanted to stop us from doing anything that would give the people a chance to show how much they supported us. Of course, their excuse was that they wanted to prevent unrest. But I do not for a moment believe there would have been any unrest of nay kind. There would have been a great demonstration of public support for the NLD, and of course the thought of that really frightens them.
Q. Some people say that economic development will in time bring the sort of democratization you want to see. What do you think?
A. Burma is not developing in anyway. It is not developing economically. Some people are getting very rich. That does not constitute economic development. Certainly there have been no progress towards democratization, so what is the progress? I think the human rights record of SLORC is so bad--and it's getting worse--that even those who might have wished to have better relations with SLORC for purely economic reasons find themselves unable to do so. Those who invest in Burma or do business with Burma at the moment will find that they are not going to make the profit they hoped for. I don't think anyone doing business with SLORC is interested in exerting moral leverage, anyway. No business that wishes to exert moral leverage would be engaged in Burma under the present circumstances.
Q. Visit Myanmar Year is coming up. Some argue the country might benefit frm more exposure, so that people would be less isolated and have a better understanding of what is going on. Do you support that?
A. No. I think the Burmese people have a perfectly good idea of what is going on, otherwise they would not have voted for democracy in 1990. There is nothing the Burmese people need to be taught about democracy, as some people claim. I think it is just an excuse for engaging in Burma. We understand well enough what democracy means and we know what we want.
Q. So would you support a boycott, and ask people not to visit?
A. Certainly I would.
Q. What is the state of the National League for Demcocracy at the moment? If circumstances were different, would it be able to rule ?
A. Why not? The NLD was successful in the 1990 elections. I think you will find that there are some very, very capable people there, with a lot of experience both in administration and in the professional world. Of course there is a lot of learning to be done, and we are ready to learn. And because we are ready to learn, we will be able to cope with whatever problems we have to face. I am not saying that we will be able to overcome or resolve problems easily, but we are prepared to face difficulties.
Q. The NLD has been criticized for not having a coherent economic strategy.
A. I think those who use that argument are the ones already engaged in business in Burma, and they want to use this as an excuse for not supporting the democratic cause. The economic program that the SLORC is trying to follow is that which was laid out by the NLD in 1988, without the framework that we foresaw for such a program.
Q. Looking back over the last eight years, is there anything that is taking the country in a better direction and encourages you?
A. The election was a good thing. It was free and fair. It was a pity they did not honor the result. That's the only thing.
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